It's like this - the very first thing an investor of ANY sort and fort any type of business is going to do, is not look at the house to be flipped, or look at the books of the business he is buying, or read some business plan. No, the very first thing he or she will do is look at you.
The investor will ask the question, "Can I invest in this person?"
He or she will do a background check, credit, company history, that sort of thing and they will talk to you about your experience with this kind of deal. That's called 'due diligence' and is what we all should do, to avoid getting burnt, either by a wide-boy, or by a rank amateur who does not know what he is doing. As the Yorkshire lass who works here would say, "I'll suss 'em out and see what they're all about and if there's ought wrong with 'em!"
Business is always about people. The books, the plan, the numbers, the forward projections - that's all just paper and as the Germans say "Paper is patient!"
As we all know (or should know!) Eccles in the Goons, had a piece of paper "Wot had eight o'clock writted on it!" In other words, you can write anything on a piece of paper!
For all your protestations, you still failed to answer the most important question, how much are YOU putting into the venture?
Or to use another German saying - are you making nails with heads on them? In other words, are you the real thing and are you doing things properly? Is this deal real? When push comes to shove, will you be able to put £100k (or whatever sum is agreed upon) into a holding account for renovation work?
Or will you be like the guy who was hoping that everybody else would front the money - he thought that all he had to do was put the deal together? That was for a movie and a producer friend of mine said at the time "You know, I lose all sympathy for a man, when I discover that he has no money!"
